


The kid

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fun, M/M, Magic, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur feels odd and goes to see Gaius who has a shocking surprise for him: He's pregnant. </p><p>Arthur doesn't know what to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The kid

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tam for betaing this.

Arthur slumped back into his chair and stared at Gaius in horror. 

The old physician smiled at him over the rim of his glasses. “Congratulations again.”

Congratulations? Arthur so wasn’t sure about that. 

 

It had started a few weeks ago. In the mornings, Arthur felt odd. Sometimes just dizzy, sometimes he even threw up. He’d thought it was because of the parties they’d gone to or maybe he’d eaten something his stomach didn’t agree with.

And then these odd cravings had set in. It got him a few strange looks when he interrupted a meeting to ask his assistant to get him some ice cream...and don’t forget the olives! And when he watched that one TV show, it seemed like the best idea ever to try the fish fingers with custard that bloke liked. And it was the best thing Arthur had ever eaten! 

But when strange mood swings began, leaving him sobbing when Merlin had insisted they re-watch the Lion King, and rushing out of a discussion with the board members with trembling lips and teary eyes because they disagreed on something he suggested. 

Something was clearly wrong with him. So he went to see Doc Gaius, the physician he trusted since he’d been a child.

And yet he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “But...you can’t be serious...that...how....”

Gaius smiled warmly at him. “I’m sure Merlin told you that it could happen to magical beings, didn’t he?”

“Yes, yes he did. That’s why...” Arthur blushed. He was not going to discuss their sex life with the old man. 

The physician tried to hide a grin as he nodded knowingly. 

“And I’m not magic!” It couldn’t be. This was so far out of line. No. Too absurd!

Gaius took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “You know you are born of magic. It’s unusual, yes, but it’s not unheard of.”

“You...you won’t tell him, will you?”

“It is not my place to tell him about it. You have to do that yourself.”

 

Arthur sat in a café, nursing a cup of tea, looking out the large window without seeing anything. Gaius had answered all of the questions that had shot through his mind, but it still didn’t make sense. He knew that with magic beings, the male could carry a child, but he wasn’t magic. Not really magic. Probably Merlin had cast a spell on him? But he wouldn’t do that! Would he? 

And what would he do? He couldn’t, he just couldn’t. Every business man in all of England would laugh at him taking maternity leave. Or would that be paternity leave? He just couldn’t imagine himself staying at home because of this. If he just ignored it long enough, would it go away?

After a few hours, he finally went home. 

 

“You’re late.” Merlin smiled. 

“Sorry, took longer than I thought.” Arthur slumped down on the couch, sighing. 

“Long, tough day?”

Nodding, Arthur kicked his shoes off and lay down. 

Merlin knelt next to the couch, brushed a few strands of hair off of Arthur’s forehead and kissed it. “Anything I can do to make it better?”

“A glass of milk?”

If Merlin was as surprised as Arthur was – he never drank milk – he didn’t let it show. 

“Want some cookies with it?”

“Do we have pickles?” Oh dear. 

Merlin set the glass on the table so Arthur could reach it. “I’ll run to the corner store. Anything else you might want?”

“Nah, but crisps would be great, too.”

When Merlin was gone, Arthur texted him. “Bring some chocolate, too, please. And salami!”

He stared at the glass of milk. Eww, that was disgusting. He never drank milk, how on earth could he have wanted milk now? He got up to get himself some water. 

While he stood at the sink and gulped the water down, he thought of the small creature growing inside of him. What would it look like? Would it have his good looks and Merlin’s wonderful smile? Or his ego and Merlin’s ears? Arthur decided the first option was much better and their kid would look just like that. And while he stood, smiling, for a small moment, he could almost feel it. Which was nonsense, it was much too early for that. 

He loosened his tie and went back to the couch, pondering if he should text Merlin again with the request for...

“Got all you wanted. And some ice cream, too.” Merlin came rushing through the door. 

“You can read my mind! Would you bring me a big spoon?” 

While Merlin was in the kitchen, Arthur opened the jar of pickles and just dipped them into the ice cream. Mmmmmmmm! 

Merlin sat the spoon down next to the salami and just watched the scene as Arthur stuffed his face with cookies, salami, chocolate, some crisps, another pickle and some spoonfulls of ice cream. First, his eyebrows were somewhere near his hairline. But after a while, his expression softened and a smile made its way across his face. 

“So you are.”

“I’m what?” Arthur munched on another pickle. 

“You’re pregnant.”

Arthur just stared at him. “How...”

“Oh, Arthur!” Merlin sat next to him. “For weeks you act strangely. You are sick in the morning, you cry at sappy movies and you have developed the strangest tastes. All the signs were there.”

Sighing, Arthur put the half-eaten pickle he still held on the table. “I...it came a bit as a shock. I don’t know how this is possible. How it worked. And...” he looked at Merlin, “I really don’t know what to do.”

“Nobody really knows how it works. But it can happen.” Merlin smiled widely. “It has happened for us.”

“But...I’m not magic.”

“Yes, you are. Just because you can’t use magic doesn’t mean you don’t leave a magical trace. You are born of magic, and magic never forgets.” He nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve known I felt a third magic presence lately.”

“You mean....he will be magic, too?” Arthur briefly wondered how the ‘it’ he referred to in his thoughts while he was in the kitchen just half an hour ago had morphed into a “he” in such a short time.

“She will be magic, too, yes, she already is.” Merlin kissed Arthur’s cheek.

Frowning, Arthur turned. “You already know that he’s a she?”

“No, I don’t. But when you say ‘he’, I have to give it a fair chance, don’t I?” 

“So...you don’t mind that this will interrupt all our plans? And that I’ll be all fat and bloaty?” 

Merlin pulled Arthur close. “We can still go on that trip around the world later. And you won’t be fat and bloaty, you will be pregnant and beautiful. And I’ll always love you.”

Arthur leaned into Merlin, tears in his eyes and he knew everything would turn out alright. 

 

With a groan, Arthur slowly woke up. He needed to pee real urgently and his belly felt as if a truck had parked on it. If only this birth thing would be done and over with soon.

When he was a bit more awake and tried to get up, he noticed Merlin lying almost across him on the couch, where they’d fallen asleep, pining him down. His head must weigh a ton! He couldn’t do that, it could hurt the kid!

The kid? Arthur was fully awake now and peeked at the table. Oh, no pickles, no salami and no ice cream, and cookies. So it just had been a dream. For a moment, Arthur wasn’t sure if he should be delighted or sad. He’d almost been comfortable with the thought of becoming a daddy...a mommy...a da...argh, too confusing. 

Merlin mumbled something in his sleep. 

“Let me get up, Merlin,” Arthur whispered. 

When he came back from the loo, Merlin was awake, too, adorably tousled, rubbing at his sleepy eyes. 

“You know, Merlin, I’ve been thinking.”

Before Merlin could mention the marking of the calendar for his thinking, Arthur continued. “I think we are ready for it.”

“For what?”

“Getting that little dog you wanted so badly.”

Smiling, he caught Merlin who flung himself at him. Maybe the dog was just the practice for a real child.


End file.
